Wash your hands – and the kids

Lots of invisible chemicals stick to your fingers in the chores of everyday life. Wash big and small hands regularly.

Look for ecolabels

Ecolabels like the Nordic Swan or the EU-Ecolabel make demands on content, like for instance endocrine disruptive and allergenic substances. You don’t need to know everything yourself. (The words ”natural” or ”organic” are no guarantee.)

Stay unscented

Many fragrances are allergenic. Ecocertified products for children are unscented. Even if ecocertified fragrances for adult use are well examined, using unscented products is a way of caring for sensitive fellow humans. 

Stay true to your color of the hair

Stay true to your color of the hair (and drop the black henna tattoos!) Hair dyes and the chemicals used to make the colors stick are among the most toxic substances we volontarily expose ourselves to. Many color pigments are strongly allergenic. Pregnant or not yet sixteen? Don’t even think about it!  

Bask safely

Skin cancer is getting more common in spite of the use of sunscreen. Suntan cremes are full of unhealthy and environmentally hazardous chemicals. Let your body slowly get used to the sun. Put a sunbonnet on. Choose shadow in the middle of the day. 

Treat cosmetics as perishables

Many preservatives are hazardous to the environment and the human body, or oxidize with time. Choose products with natural preservatives, like natural antioxidants as Vitamin E or essential oils. Only dip clean fingers in the jar. Buy smaller packages, and always use fresh products: check the due before date.

Go for plant oils

Mineral oils in most conventional cosmetics don’t nourish your skin. They can affect your health and they are part of the dirty oil industry.

Goodbye wet wipes – welcome water and washcloth!

Wet wipes are literally marinated in corrosive, drying, allergenic and in worst case even endocrine disruptive chemicals. They should not touch thin baby skin. 

Look in the pantry

Honey is the best facial mask ever, and cold pressed olive oil is a nice body lotion after a shower. Recipes for home made cosmetics can be found on the internet.

Honey is the best facial mask ever, and cold pressed olive oil is a nice body lotion after a shower. Recipes for home made cosmetics can be found on the internet.  

Wash wisely

Unscented and ecolabelled detergent is good for your skin, good för allergic individuals and good for the environment. Skip the softener: why supply new chemicals to clean clothes?

Do a plastic cleance of your bathroom

Bath mat, shower curtain, changing mat and soft bath toys – how much plastic do you have in your bathroom? At least replace stuff made of PVC: vinyl containing endocrine disruptive softeners. Look for other materials than plastic when you buy something new.

PS! Nail polish, hair dyes, sprays and perfumes – or what’s left of them when we have used what we want – should be sorted as hazardous waste. Sounds really healthy to human beings...